Landowners say oil company ruining property

LINCOLN COUNTY, Okla. — The peace and quiet out in rural Lincoln County between Meeker and Prague is a little shaken up right now.

A company taking 3D images of the fault line out there.

The employees are looking for oil to drill but are finding outraged landowners instead.

The landowners are angry about damaged fences, clear-cut trees and ruts waist deep on their properties.

Ray Cooper owns land in the area and said, “I think they should pay for what they tore up, clean up their mess and pay for the big trees they weren’t supposed to take out.”

James Pruett owns the surface rights and some mineral rights on 750 acres in the area.

He said, “It’s just gotten to the point where it’s a laughing matter because it’s the same story every day.”

His main concern is about the fences that he said get destroyed by employees climbing on them or driving over them.

Pruett said, “The fences are a huge asset to me. Those fences hold my cattle in. When those cattle get out, that’s a big deal.”

Some said they were forced to agree to the invasion.

Cooper said, “That’s what I feel like a lot of people have felt. They’ve just been bullied into this and pushed the entire way.”

Pruett showed us an agreement from the company that seems to warn homeowners they either need to allow the company to come on their land or they’ll be sued.

Stephen Unger is with Eagle Land & Minerals Company.

He said they try to be careful with the properties but know they aren’t always successful.

Unger said, “We’re here to be good neighbors. We’re not here to cause problems or irritate people. We understand that we’re a nuisance. We are working to try to get things fixed. It might not be as fast as everyone likes. There’s a lot of landowners and there’s only a couple of us. So we can only go so fast.”